Evaluation of Seed Coating Products on Alfalfa.

Applications of several commercial products in seed coatings were evaluated for alfalfa forage yield and quality at Kimberly, ID. Roundup Ready© Alfalfa was sown in 5 ft by 20 ft (1.5 m by 6.1 m) plots Sept. 2014 with 4 reps in a randomized complete block. Seed coating treatments were: (1) untreated check; (2) Apron XL, 0.64; (3) TRT2 + 0.64, Stamina 3; (4) Evergol Energy 3+ Allegience 0.5; (5) TRT4 + Cruiser 5 + FS 1.28; (6) Apron XL 0.553 + Maxim XL 0.334 + Cruiser 5 + FS 1.28; (7) Apron XL 0.553 + Maxim XL 0.334; (8) Apron XL 0.64 + Cruiser 5 + FS 1.28. Product rates are in oz/wt units. Forage in first cutting was grab-sampled, oven-dried, and analyzed for forage quality by NIRS. First, second, third, and fourth cutting forage dry matter yield means for all treatments in 2015 were 4.22, 2.78, 3.16, and 1.47 Mg ha^-1, respectively. Only fourth cutting was different for treatments. Fourth cutting yield was higher in treatments 3,4, 5, and 8 than treatment 1. The CV for the yields by cutting were 15.9, 24.2, 13.6, and 26.9%, respectively. Crude protein (CV=4.1%) was slightly higher for seed coating treatments over the check, although not all treatments were significantly higher. In vitro dry matter digestibility (CV=1.7%) was higher for the untreated check than for most of the seed coating treatments. Although yield for most seed treatments trended to be higher than the untreated check, the variability was too high to see significant results.